Community-mail-box support



W. B. BATES AND E. L. STONE.

COMMUNITY MAIL BOX SUPPORT.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 3. I917.

Patented Aug. 24,1920.

WILLIAM B. BATES AND EDWARD L. STONE, ROANOKE, VIRGINIA.

COMMUNITY-MAIL-BOX SUPPORT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 24, 1920.

Applicationfiled February 3, 1917. Serial No. 146,454.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM B. Barns and EDWARD L. STONE, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Roanoke, in the county of Roanoke and State of Virginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Community Mail Box Supports, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to a communlty mail-box support, and the primary object is to provide an attractive means for the support and housing of a number of rural free delivery mail-boxes, at a common point to accommodate several residents and to facilitate the handling and more especially the delivery of mail matter, thereby avoiding many of the stops that are necessary for the average rural route carrier.

With these objects in view, our invention comprises in the main a support, preferably in the form of a central post, with a superstructure mounted to turn thereon, and to provide support for the letter-boxes of a number of nearby residents.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1, is a view in side elevation;

Fig. 2, is a top plan view;

Fig. 3, is an end elevation of one of the boxes on an enlarged scale;

Fig. 1, is a longitudinal vertical section through one of these boxes, the right-hand end being broken away;

Fig. 5, is a view of form.

A, is a central post or pedestal, preferably anchored for considerable depth in the ground, as indicated, preferably in a concrete foundation, in order to give it a firm setting.

A superstructure of any preferred design or construction may be mounted in any approved manner, at the top, preferably on roller-bearings this superstructure might be in various forms our preference is to make it of superimposed sections 2, 2, like the well-known WVernicke book-case, which sections should be securely fastened in some convenient manner out of reach of any unauthorized person who might be inclined to disturb them.

Each section may be subdivided (as shown in Fig. 2) into several individual boxes 3, S, with a lock-door 4 of any approved type, or with the same arrangement of spaces,

a slightly modified 1, 1, as indicated, and while pigeon-holes as it were, for the reception of the present type of rural freedelivery box, sothat no change whatever need be made in the individual box; but whether the boxes are built in, or mere spaces provided for the boxes, for convenient utilization and economy of space our plan is to have them open (as shown in Fig. 2) in rows on the various sides of the sections.

If the spaces are to be used as boxes, or even if not, if a door is desirable, some such a one as is indicated by the numeral 5 may be employed. This has some means for looking it with a pad-lock, or something of the sort, a place for the name, and a drop for the letters, as well as some means 6 for showing different colors accordingly as there is mail in the box or not, in this instance in the form of a slide having red and white colors thereon, one of which is to be shown through hole 7, accordingly as there has been something dropped in the box or not.

Suspended beneath superstructure, for convenience, is the letter or parcel-box 8, for letters, papers and packages, for deposit of all out-going mail if desirable, saving labor and time in carriers collecting all mails in their respective communities.

Arrangements might also be made for a stamp-vending machine (not shown).

In this way, we propose to provide a really ornamental community mail-box, which is capable of growing according to the needs of the community to be accommodated. The object in pivoting the support for the boxes is to make it unnecessary for a person either delivering or removing the mail to dismount from horse or vehicle, as it is perfectly easy to swing the box around until the right one is reached from a given point, therefore only requiring one stop for each community.

In the slightly modified construction, boxes are arranged in pyramidal form, so to speak, simply as a different means of utilizing the space.

It is obvious that other modifications might be made, all coming within the purview of the invention, without departing from the spirit and scope thereof.

lVe claim-E 1. A community mail-box comprising a post, a base, rotatably supported on the upper end thereof, a sectional superstructure mounted on the base having a plurality of recesses extending in four dilferent directions from a common center and individual mail-boxes located in these recesses.

2. A community mail-box comprising a post, a base, rotatably supported on the upper end thereof, a sectional superstructure mounted .on the base having a plurality of recesses extending in four diflerent directions from a common center and individual mail-boxes located in these recesses, and a parcel-box secured to the post at a point beneath the base.

3. A community mail-box comprising :1

central base or pedestal, a base rotatably mounted thereon, a sectional superstructure mounted on the base, the sections of which are 'capa ble'of being superimposed according to the number required, said sections having openings on the four sides of the superstructure, and a letter or parcel-box depending from the base.

In testimony whereof We afiiX our signatures.

XVILLIAM B. BATES. EDWARD L. STONE. 

